Family: Luke 24.1-12 (ESV)

  

    Happy Easter!   Easter gives us hope, not hope in general but a hope that we have overcome in Christ.  Easter is a fun time when we get together with family and friends.  We have egg hunts and it's fun to get together.  Today we step into a moment in Luke 24.  We've been looking at the people who were at the cross gathered around the crucifixion.  Those who gathered knew Jesus best.  It's nice to be around people who know us best.  They know you have holes in your socks and it's ok.  Some of the people gathered were family members.  It's surprising how they responded to the events of the cross.  We know all that happened already because we have read the story.  Luke is writing this passage to believers but he is also writing to the skeptics.  When we think about the passage our minds and we go directly to resurrection but what's written to the skeptics might speak to you today.  Those at the tomb were trying to sort things out in their minds.  This is a space to be honest before God.

There is something different about today.

 The Sabbath is coming so they go to finish the burial of Jesus.  

            ¹But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. ² And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb,

    They're looking for Jesus' body.  They wanted to finish the job they started on Friday, to finish the burial preparations but instead they find an empty tomb.  Luke doesn't go into descriptions like the other Gospels do. There's a large stone to protect the tomb.  It sat on a groove or a slot.  When in place it stayed there and it was hard to move it.  You'd never find a tomb just open.  It's the same as if we were going to a graveyard to pay our respects and finding the grave open.  It would have startled us too.  They're very surprised.  This happened on the first day of the week and what a big change this brought!  This is why we worship on Sunday.  Jesus changes everything!  Worship is changed and it's now on Sunday.  They were used to going to the Temple to make animal sacrifices.  All they knew about God changed in a matter of days.  It's changed for the better.  The first sign is the stone and the tomb.  They're just confused.  

If you have uncertainty, you are in good company.

    I like certainty!  I don't like to be wondering what's going on.  God uses these moments of uncertainty to nudge us.  If you go through times of uncertainty you are in good company with those in the Bible.

                        ⁴While they were perplexed about this,

    They're trying to figure out where the body of Jesus is.  They're narrowly focused on Jesus' body.  None of this makes sense to them.  When we think about the empty tomb we think about resurrection.  They did not equate this yet.  They know Jesus' body is missing.  They want to find Jesus' body and  they want to close up the tomb.  If they got what they wanted in that moment  the body of Jesus would have been found and the stone would have been placed back in place to close up the tomb.  This applies to us too.  If we got everything we wanted in our lives, if we got everything we wanted for our own comfort level we'd be missing out.  In the 11th century, Anselm had a saying: "Faith seeks understanding."   We want to get to certainty.  They are perplexed.

Jesus changed everything we know.

    The angels are introduced.  Luke does something interesting.  The angels have fun with this as they ask why they are seeking the living among the dead.  The agenda of the women was to find Jesus' body.  Sometimes we too are asking the wrong questions.  While the women were asking where Jesus' body is the angels ask a new question.  Perhaps we are asking the wrong question?  What questions are you asking that are not the right questions?  What does God have for you?  Is God doing something bigger than our questions?

                        ⁶He is not here, but has risen.

    These are the single greatest words humanity has ever heard!  Death holds its' sway over us.  It's a fact we will die and we are powerless over death.  Resurrection negates all of that.  If Jesus rose from the dead and we too as believers will rise death is no longer feared!  Life is no longer limited by our birth and death.  The world tells us to enjoy life because we'll be gone before we know it.  What if there's more?  What if Jesus really did defeat death?    Is it logically possible for Jesus to rise from death?  Can God overcome death?  Is God greater than death?  Could Jesus be God?  If it's a possibility then we have to ask some different questions.  

    Two years ago many of us were in France on a mission trip and we were celebrating Easter together.  We were trying to demonstrate some of our American traditions so we had an egg hunt.  We filled eggs with candy, hid them and the kids went out to find them.  One person asked,  "Why does the Easter bunny bring eggs?"  I did not have an answer to that!  We discussed that it might be a lot more fun to chase bunnies around in lieu of finding eggs.  These women that discovered the empty tomb did not consider that it would be impossible to find Jesus' body.  Death no longer has a hold on us.  What's it mean for our spiritual lives?  

He does what He promises.

            ⁸And they remembered his words,

    They remembered Jesus' words and it finally clicks for them.  Sometimes things do not make sense to us immediately.  Jesus said he'd die and rise on the third day but they thought Jesus was using an idiom.  For example, at a family gathering we might say, "his plate is full."  This might literally mean he has too much food on his plate, but it can also mean he has a lot going on and its hard to balance everything.  They finally realized Jesus wasn't using a metaphor and wasn't talking symbolically.  All of a sudden they get it and it makes sense and it changes everything!  They see what God wants to do!  This changed how they lived every day.  Luke and Acts are written by the same person.  They can be looked at as volume 1 and volume 2.  We see what happens when all these people get it. Jesus does what He says.  These women are the first ones who get it.  We get excited and our minds are blown and we want to share it with other people.  It takes the work of the Holy Spirit for us to get it and accept it.

This news can be difficult to accept.

    They immediately go to the disciples and tell them Jesus has risen from the dead.  Can you imagine being the one who gets to share the good news?  The disciples are in a hopeless and broken state.  When we have given up and have had our dreams shattered it's hard to hear any news.  We can reach these points too.  We just want to get back to normal.  If we focus on that we can miss what God wants to do..  

¹¹but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.

They're not even open to the Gospel.  Haven't these guys spent time with Jesus?  They spent every day with Jesus for about three years!  They've seen Jesus raise people from the dead.  They've been on  a boat with Jesus and seen him calm a storm; Peter even walked on water!  If you ever wonder about your own faith and struggles here's evidence the disciples struggled too.  All of us are prone to closing our minds to what God can do.  We do this and close off the possibilities of what God can do.  They cannot even entertain the thought that God can transform them right now.  

Take your own look.

 ¹² But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.

Peter takes his own look and saw the linen cloths.  This is one of the mysterious things of the Bible, how the cloths were lying there.  Jesus rose from the dead.  Peter is not convinced.  Peter became the the primary preacher in Acts, so we know Peter gets there.  He's marveling and coming to terms with Jesus' resurrection.  He's sorting it all out.  It's ok to be there, sorting things out in our brains.  Maybe you're in that place today?  A place of wondering?  Sometimes we don't understand why things are the way they are.  We don't understand but we can believe.  Believing and trusting in God is faith.  Faith in God is saying, "God, I trust You, I believe."  

Sermon by Dr. Scotty Carpenter.  Sermon Notes by Jeni Martin Johnson.